Philanthropic funders are expanding their support for grantees to address the well-being of overworked staff, Devex reports.

Reducing stress and improving workplace environments at nonprofits became critical for funders during the COVID-19 pandemic amid increasing reports of staff burnout and resignations.

The Wellbeing Project, a network of more than 400 social-sector organizations, whose funders include the Ford, Laudes, Segal Family, Skoll, and William and Flora Hewlett foundations, Asian Venture Philanthropy Network, Camelback Ventures, and Imaginable Futures, promotes well-being as a core value for the broader outcomes toward which its members are working.

According to Devex, a majority of the group’s members provide unrestricted funding that reduces the burden of reporting and due diligence and creates space for grantees to invest in their staff and workplace environment in ways the grantees see fit. The focus on staff well-being is viewed as complementary to the movement toward trust-based giving, which aims to balance the relationship between donors and nonprofits by providing grantees with more flexibility. Although the group is still working out exactly what “well-being” means and what support for it looks like, it may include initiatives to promote physical, emotional, or mental health; professional development; and team building; as well as more tangible changes such as improving wages, retirement benefits, and parental leave.

In a 2022 report from Hewlett, the foundation highlighted well-being support as part its larger interest in nonprofit capacity strengthening. “Regardless of how support for wellness and healing is structured and where it is placed, interventions for addressing the debilitating effects of stress, trauma, and burnout in a timely manner and building individual and organizational resilience are important investments,” the report noted.

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